Man without Hands and Legs Swims over Bering Strait

Philippe Croizon

  A French swimmer who lack legs and arms has successfully swum the frigid waters separating Alaska and Russia with the aid of paddle-like prosthetic, expedition representatives said Saturday.

  Philippe Croizon, whose limbs were amputated after a 1994 electrical accident at age 26, completed his swim late Friday from Alaska's Little Diomede Island to the Russian maritime border near Big Diomede Island.  Croizon's website said the expected direct distance of the swim was to be about 2.5 mile(4 km).

  Croizon had intended to swim all the way to the shoreline of Big Diomede, but regional Russian authorities denied him permission to enter the territory, expedition representative said.

  He swim to Russian waters took about an hour and 15 minutes.  Croizon uses paddle-like prosthetic to swim, and has completed crossing of the English Channel the Red Sea and other major waterways.  His Bering Strait swim was the last in a series of expeditions across waterways that separate continents, according to Handicap International, the nonprofit organization that helped organize Croizon's Alaska undertaking.

Croizon, who was seeking to raise awareness of the abilities of handicapped people, is the second person to swim the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russian territory.  In 1987, American long-distance swimmer Lynne Cox accomplished that feat for the first time.